Daily Republican., 1887-08-15
THE RAILROAD HORROR.

Superintendent Armstr onS Oh % r G d
with Boing Part to Blame for tho
Exploded.
CHATswoRTH, August IA Although
the identified dead OF the Toledo, Peuris
and Western Railroad saster number
not more than seventy seven, there is
reasonable room for the belief that there
have been deaths, perhaps half q dozen,
resulting from the tragedy which cannot
be definitely reported owing to the con
fusion and lack of system when the bod
les were being taken away. The official
list OF the wounded who have been cared
for here and In Piper City does not at
present show more than 100 victims, but
there ie no doubt whatever that many
more than that were wounded.
The six wounded who were in the Town
Hall passed comfortable night, and part
OF them have decidedly improved, not
withstanding very heavy thunder storm
which lasted till early morning. Mrs. r.
H. Clark, OF Rootstown, Ohio, whose
limbs were amputated yesterday, died at
9 30 this afternoon.
At Hper City about all the wounded
are improving except Mr.. Stillwell, OF
West Point, Ind, who is in a very dan
gerous condition, with very little hopes
OF recovery.
At the Coroner's inquest yesterday
morning the only witness was W. G. Mes
sier, grain dealer at Chatsworth. The
only thing notable about his evidence was
the statement that though he had been
one of the first at the wreck, and had re
NAMED there until the arrival of the first
relief train, he saw no interference by
anybody with the valuables of the vic
Tins
McCHntock, the engineer who was
Killed., advised Superintendent Arm
str ng before the train started that it
was toe heavy, and should be run in two
sections. His advice was not needed,
however. The train almost twice as long
as can with safety be drawn, started out,
and McClintock's words were quickly
ana sadly verified Had the seventeen
cars been divided into two sections the
engineer of the first could have easily
brought 1t to q halt when the burning
bridge was noticed. Not SO with the
thundering weight of seventeen heavy
coaches, most of them Pullman sleepers,
whose momentum carried everything
along, even when the brakes had been
set. and smashed into splinters the lighter
coaches ahead. The attempt of the en-
gineers to stop their train proving futile,
and believing with their quick intelligen ce
that the better course was then to try and
rush across, they turned on every po.si BILE
pound of steam and away they sped, Nc
Clintock 10 his death Happily, 1t must
have been instantaneous and painless,
but for one brief moment of dreadful
agony. Z.
A number of men at Piper City posi-
lively contradict the testimony of limo.
thy Coughlin, the section boss, that he
and his gang put out all the fires along
the track. before they left their work
and proceeded to Chatsworth on Wednes-
day evening.
The best evidence obtainable is that the
fire built by the section hands was within
100 rods Of the burned bridge when it was
left. There is general sentiment among
residents in the neighborhood that the
section men were largely to blame. There
was not nearly as much robbing at the
wreck as some reports indicate. Watches
and rings thought to have been stolen are
being found among the debris as it is
cleared away.
THE INCENDIARY THEORY.
CHICAGO, August IA Times special
from Champaign. ILL.,, says: j. o. Baker,
president of the Illinois Socity of Engi.
neers and professor OF civil engineering in
the University of Illinois, says:
"The i1cendiary theory has no founda-
tion wha ever. ! am unable personally
to find any citizens of Chatsworth vino
have seen Suspicious characters lettering
about, as required by that theory. The
flames OF the burning culvert were plainly
seen from Chatsworth at intervals for
several hours before the accident. From
the lay of the land they must have risen
five or six feet above the track to have
been seen so far. 1t is plain that an at
tempt had been made to protect the
bridges of the road from FIRE, but q per.
sonal inspection of other culverts In that
vicinity shows that 1t was not done so as
to afford complete protection.
"A personal inspection along the line of
the road for several miles shows that grass
and weeds were not all burned off, but
many patches were left unburned, and in
the immediate vicinity 1t was more care.
lessly done than elsewhere. The culvert
itself was of the usual build and abund-
ant strength to carry the train but for
the fire which had destroyed the lower
portion"
He added he thought it probable that |
the fire left by the section men late In the
afternoon who, by their own testimony
that there was burning grass
only forty rods away, was driven down to
the culvert when they left by slight |
,hange of wind, Otherwise 1t is possible |
that sparks from the special train of the
of bridges, the last train
before the fated excursion, kindled in the
grass near the culvert and burned slowly |
or long time and finally fired the cul-
yert.